It was my 10 princess cruise and I’m very disappointed with princess. I did 7 nights Greek isles cruise from Athens. I’ve been on Royal and Regal Princess before and it was much better than Majestic. I understand that ship is going to ... Read More

It was my 10 princess cruise and I’m very disappointed with princess. I did 7 nights Greek isles cruise from Athens. I’ve been on Royal and Regal Princess before and it was much better than Majestic. I understand that ship is going to Asia and will be oriented towards Asian market, but it still sails in Europe for 8 -9 weeks and should be adjusted towards regular clients and standards. The décor of the ship is very dark and calm, some of the staff has difficulty communicating with passengers. The food was below average, except specialty restaurants where food was very good, especially in Harmony restaurant. The breakfast was the same in the buffet every day. The Alfredo pizza place was the best choice for lunch. International café was pretty good. The same labyrinth mazes in marketplace buffet that everybody complaint about on Regal and Royal was the same on Majestic. You could not find your way in our out of the buffet. But the worth was entertainment. It was only 1 production show on the last night, comedians were not that great, and singers were ok.Cruise director was the worth I’ve ever seen on the cruise ships. He was trying to talk as least as possible and had minimum interactions with the passengers. The embarkation and disembarkation were very smooth. The ports were great, but we only docked in 1 port out of 5 ports we visited and tendered in the other, which was a hassle for a lot of people and waste of time to get to the port and came back. The service was ok on the ship, not enough crew and not enough experienced crew to interact with the passengers. Make sure you check your final statement at the end of the cruise, because there were many mistakes made on almost everybody’s account. The ports were very nice, we had excursions in every port and they were ok, depending on the guide. We had balcony room and it was very nice, but the balcony was tiny. The room was decent size so is the the bathroom. Overall it was decent cruise for somebody who does not know what a great cruise should be. Princess cruise line used to have higher standards and better quality of cruises than Majestic princess. Read Less

Wife and I chose this back to back cruise because it was a brand new ship and for 3 of the ports never visited. We travel often and usually opt for private transfers, so it was a pleasure to have our driver waiting to whisk us to Piraeus ... Read More

Wife and I chose this back to back cruise because it was a brand new ship and for 3 of the ports never visited. We travel often and usually opt for private transfers, so it was a pleasure to have our driver waiting to whisk us to Piraeus to embark. Boarding was well organized and there were no lines to get aboard as it was done in controlled groups. Staff were waiting onboard with elevators reserved to take us to our cabins. Lugggage arrived within 75 minutes which was nice. Our cabin steward who we met later in the day was excellent and kept the cabin spotless. The ship never felt crowded even at full capacity. The passengers were from all the continents and made for interesting encounters. Temperatures in the public areas were kept quite low and reminded me of my travels to the Orient where the restaurants felt like meat lockers. We soon learned to dress accordingly. There were not many places to hangout except for the atrium area and the dining spots.
I used the gym and it was stocked with good equipment and only crowded on sea days at certain hours. Anytime dining was OK if you went early or late without a reservation. A res was needed most other times. Host/hostess staffing was hit or miss and it appeared this cruise was a learning experience for some. The wait staff was hard working and were trying hard to please. We avoided the buffet after trying it once and not finding the selections to be worth waiting on oneself. The dining room meals were far better and easier to enjoy. The selections were varied and the presentation quite good. The only negative experience was when a head waiter would not change a drink order from the bar I found unacceptable and would only remake it to my satisfaction. Being in a chill mode I decided to be okay with it but in back at home mode there would have been a problem. Because we planned many early tours the breakfast option was room service. Although delivery was punctual and presentation quite good, the selections were very limited. We saw just one show and it was OK , not great. If you did not arrive 30 minutes before show time, seats were difficult to find. The international cafe on the atrium deck was excellent and easily accessible. Compliments to captain Dino for skillful cruising through rough water when we were unable to dock at Messina, Sicily. The ship handled it magnificently.
Debarkation in Barcelona was unbelievably efficient. Read Less

Subject: Majestic Princess Cruises
Title: Excellent large new ship
Overall experience was very satisfactory. Excellent and cooperative staff., Very Smooth check in and check out was the highlight of of our stay.We opted for sit in ... Read More

Subject: Majestic Princess Cruises
Title: Excellent large new ship
Overall experience was very satisfactory. Excellent and cooperative staff., Very Smooth check in and check out was the highlight of of our stay.We opted for sit in dinner at Concerto Dining room. Very good and cooperative staff , excellent food and good ambiance were the high lights. We will like to thank for outstanding services of JanRay supervisor, Rolando A. Sacay and Ron Madrid waiters for services given to us on all the seven days of our dinner. Lunch was buffet and we took in place known as Market place on 16th floor. There also service was excellent of ever smiling staff. We will like to thank waiter Ashwani who was very helpful. One difficulty we faced was about to find out Vegetarian food which was in plenty but spread at all the places. Management can easily provide a separate counter of vegetarian food . This will avoid moving around in the entire restaurant. Evening shows were lacking as compared to other cruises. Our teenager and child were very happy with their respective activity centers marked for them. My grand daughter aged 9 years was so happy that she wanted to spent entire day there and only for this reason she wants to visit again Read Less

Majestic Princess is by far the worst cruise ship we have ever been to!!
we're a family of 4 traveling, 2 kids under age of 7 and 2 adults.
ISSUE #1
the minute we walked into our room, it had this fishy rotten smell in the ... Read More

Majestic Princess is by far the worst cruise ship we have ever been to!!
we're a family of 4 traveling, 2 kids under age of 7 and 2 adults.
ISSUE #1
the minute we walked into our room, it had this fishy rotten smell in the room. My wife noticed it at first, she contacted the front desk staff, they assured us that they will shampoo and add air freshener to the room. we were very surprise as this is a brand new ship and this shouldn't be the case!
we went out to dinner, came back and the smell is still the same. we complained again and again for 4 days. the 5th night they finally got a technician who stated that they have a leak on one of their pipes which caused the smell. they decided to move us in the middle of the night on our 5th day to another room that was empty since the family that was suppose to be in there didn't board in the ship ( the other room was empty from day one, but they didn't buzzer to offer it to us from the first day). unfortunately this room only accommodate 3 people, and we're a family of 4, so their resolution is to add 2 mattress on top of each other to accommodate my 4th child. It wasn't safe for my child to sleep there, so he slept with us in our bed, but the front office staff had no other choice for us.
ISSUE#2
We paid for 4 passenger in the room, 2 adults and 2 kids. As we get to our room, it has one queen bed and a twin that accommodate one child only. we were told the fourth bed suppose to be lowered down from the ceiling and it was not safe for my 6 year old to sleep in it. we booked the room to accommodate 4 people, but didn't provide the service we paid for. my other son had to sleep with us on our bed which was not comfortable at all.
The kids club activity is very very boring and it's very well unorganized. it's mostly centered around 2-3 years old, my 6 year old was so bored in there as there was no activity for his age.
This is supposed to be a brand new ship, but two of the elevators were out of service at least in two different occasion during our 7 night stay.
This is most definitely not a kid friendly cruise. and also in my opinion not a family friendly either. They have a lot of issue among their customer service staff, their communication is horrible and so is their follow ups. they don't seem to know what they are doing at this ship. My family would never travel Princess cruise again! I had a much better experience at MSC Cruise. Read Less

We have sailed on Princess 30+ times so know the features that make for a good cruise. First of all the ship is beautiful being it's new. Liked the blue carpet on one side and the red carpet on the other side indicating immediately ... Read More

We have sailed on Princess 30+ times so know the features that make for a good cruise. First of all the ship is beautiful being it's new. Liked the blue carpet on one side and the red carpet on the other side indicating immediately which way to go coming off the elevators. Our room was the same as before but more than adequate. After putting our luggage away we did a tour. First thing we noticed was that the Internet Cafe was in the Library - and there were only 2 computers. I asked why only 2 computers and was told that the Chinese don't use computers. Wonder if the 10+ people standing in line knew that. Fortunately we had our own computer but it still took forever to check both of us in. Does Princess think that everyone who sails has a smart phone, I pad or computer. Maybe 5 years from now but there were a lot of frustrated people who wanted to use the internet. And looking around, the library had few books.
Speaking of "The Chinese don't use computers", I heard from table guests that they were told the exercise equipment is minimal because the Chinese don't exercise. I noticed the lack of a running and walking track on the 18th deck. The area didn't go all the way around unless you opened 2 doors on 2 sides of the basketball court. Then you could make a circle. And at times the track was only wide enough for 2 people - maybe,
We noticed a door that said Hollywood Pool Club. We walked past the indoor swimming pool to the Hollywood Conservatory. Surprise - thats where elite guests were allowed for drinks from 5-8 in the evening. At no time were we notified about this. I must say it wasn't a very pleasant place to sit and have a drink. The only thing going for it was the view out the front of the ship. Otherwise you sat on plastic cushions on plastic chairs with fake trees and oversize games on the floor. Green outdoor carpet was in some areas - and I noticed in several places there were large snags already. It is not a warm comfy place to have drinks prior to going out to dinner. And why no notification?
Food was OK although the menu in the dining rooms seemed to be about the same off and on. Service was OK but then you had the disappearing waiter. We weren't impressed with the food in the World Market Place. I know they are catering to the Asian market but I wondered a lot trying to find food I liked - other than salads. We always ate our breakfast out on the Wave View area but 99% of the time we had to get our own juice. And the coffee machine didn't work so coffee was delayed. The last week the ice machine out there was broken. Noticed the nice comfy furniture was missing from that area. Is it still coming?
Ate at the Crown Grill one evening. My steak was very good but my husband said his steak was so so. Potatoes were different tasting. The music that was coming in on the PA system didn't make for a pleasant dinner. - very loud and high pitched singing.
Did enjoy dinner at Alfredo's a couple of nights. Had a very good waitress. Ate several lunches from the International Cafe. My husband said he liked that best because he found he didn't eat so much. Of course we still had to have our dessert.
Missed our stop into Messina because of high winds - Captain said 60 knots. But the ship felt very stable. I went up to the Wave View area - one side was protected from the winds - but the next thing I saw and heard was plastic glasses blowing all over the deck and then I heard a big bang. Part of the ceiling came down on the other side and a piece flew off the ship. I left right away! Was looking forward to Mt Etna.
Entertainment was so so. The "fantastic" show was a sensory overload event and talked to a few people who didn't enjoy it either. As I have said MANY times, we are not all hard of hearing!
The shopping area was huge with very high end shops. The cosmetic/fragrance shop was twice as big as Regal and Royal. I didn't like it though when I just wanted to walk around and look and I was always asked if I need help. Otherwise I didn't feel like there was much shopping that interested me.
And one of the "fun" things I always do, is enjoy a few turns on the slot machines. There were none of the "older" type slots so I walked away and didn't spend a dime - well a lot more really.
The TV reception in our room was the best of all our cruises. Just wish they would give us CNN again. And the Movie Under the Stars screen had top resolution.
Would we go on the Majestic again? I suppose if it was the only ship having the itinerary I wanted to go on. One of our waiters even told us he couldn't wait to get off this ship. We have sailed on Princess in the Asian market and it was very enjoyable. This didn't do much for us. Read Less

Sailed on the brand new Majestic Princess at the end of April for a Greek Islands cruise.
Elite status made for a very expeditious boarding with almost no waiting at all.
The Majestic is well appointed since it is a new ship and, as ... Read More

Sailed on the brand new Majestic Princess at the end of April for a Greek Islands cruise.
Elite status made for a very expeditious boarding with almost no waiting at all.
The Majestic is well appointed since it is a new ship and, as it is designed for the Asian market, all of its signage is bilingual with Chinese under the English (even the test the water temperature sign in your shower in your cabin!). There were noticeably more crew with a China origin than is normal for a Princess ship and everywhere one could find Mandarin speaking crew. In the main dining room at our table, our waiter was from the Philippines but our assistant waiter was from China. There were also noticeably more Chinese food menu items in the buffet offerings at breakfast and lunch, although at dinner in the dining room, there was no sign of the Asian leaning (we were told however that when the ship reached Asia later in the year, the dining room will have full bilingual menu in English and Chinese).
Service was fine and friendly as is usual for a Princess ship.
I have been on both the Royal and the Regal, sister ships to the Majestic, and by comparison, the Majestic has much of its open deck space and deck loungers removed, likely because Asian are thought to be less enamoured with sunbathing but also probably to reduce weight carried by the ship as part of cost-cutting.
In fact, cost-cutting measures were very very much evident on my cruise: (1) I requested a queen bed configuration in my balcony stateroom for single occupancy and instead of using a queen mattress to top two twin beds, they simply pushed two twin beds together leaving a prominent ridge in the middle of the combined bed, a complaint to the hotel manager did not help as he simply had his assistant call to leave me a message indicating they no longer provide queen mattresses except for suites, (2) instead of the Princess standard (at least as of last year) three choices of soups and two choices of pastas set out in separate sections in the dining room menu, the Majestic dining room combined all soups and starters under one heading for appetizers with only two soup selections and one pasta selection each evening, and the special Norman Love collaboration chocolate desserts were not available every evening but instead on just some of the evenings, (3) the dining room was opened for lunch only one day - the at sea day - instead of being opened each day of the cruise for those who would like to dine in the dining room rather than just go to the buffet, (4) the lunch buffet had the same food, except for the daily roast, each day for two or three days in a row so combined with the dining room not being opened for lunch, made lunch a somewhat less interesting and more repetitive experience than on previous Princess cruises, (5) the entertainment in the piazza consisted only of the piano entertainers and string quartet that usually provided entertainment in the various lounges in the evening rather than special acts such as body balancing duos or jugglers brought in just to perform in the piazza as in past cruises.
As a result of these cost cutting measures, I wrote a long multi-page comments letter to the hotel manager, made much mention of cost cutting in completing the post-cruise survey and e-mailed an inquiry to Princess on its website about whether the no-Queen mattress policy applied only to the European cruise or will apply also to Caribbean cruises. I have had no response to my e-mail inquiry and no follow-up from Princess on any of my comments of concern. In particular, as a single occupancy traveller, I stressed to Princess the no Queen mattress policy would be a serious deterrent to my booking with Princess for future cruises.
As for the itinerary, the 7 days Greeks Islands cruise has a good itinerary with a good combination of islands with historical cultural sites, and sunny beach-filled islands like Mykonos. I was particularly surprised by Kotor Montenegro, which has a very lively city center with lots of cafes, restaurants and bars that I wishes I had more time to enjoy after taking a Princess tour of local sites. Another nice surprise was Khios (or Chios), a small island only a few km and less than 30 minutes by boat away from the coast of Turkey. In addition to showing us the sites, the guide also gave us some local thoughts on the impact of the migrant crisis as Khios is close enough to Turkey to receive its share of migrants even if most head for neighbouring Lesbos instead.
As a sign of the changing demographics for Mediterranean cruises, our cruise director told us that of the approximately 3,600 passengers, about 1,000 were from the US (less than 1/3), followed by about four or five hundred Australians, about four hundred Canadians, and then a couple of hundred from each of Russia and the UK. In fact, there were so many Russians that all shipboard announcements were repeated in Russian after being made in English. Read Less

Have done tens of long European cruises with Princess in the past and this one has me rethinking in the future. The ship was shiny and new which was great.
Problem is that allot of the choices in building make this a ship to avoid. ... Read More

Have done tens of long European cruises with Princess in the past and this one has me rethinking in the future. The ship was shiny and new which was great.
Problem is that allot of the choices in building make this a ship to avoid. We did a Mediterranean cruise and given this ship was created for the Asian market there were allot of Asian people on board. I mention this because it didn't seem as if allot of the items geared towards the Asian people were even being used by the Asians much less anyone else. Karaoke rooms cost an extra fee to use them and yet I never saw one person in any of the Karaoke rooms the entire cruise. A conservatory takes up a large portion of the ship and is billed as a meditation space, the only people I saw in here all cruse were about 5 Brits watching a soccer game. High End Duty free shopping also takes a large amount of space. Most people under the age of 60 have access to the the internet and now these shops had hardly any customers. The most crowded they got was when the ships staff had a private event to buy g-shock watches.
The dancing at night is held in the indoor pool area. Nothing like sipping on few drinks with the smell of chlorine permeating the air. Its as if the local YMCA had a dance. The rest of the entertainment was nothing to write home about either. Typically below the standards of a theme park. The pool at the back no longer exists and instead an odd outdoor workout area is there. Never saw anyone use it.
The staff was pretty confused most of the time and very curt. Hardly personable and by the far the worst staff on any princess ship. We tried multiple extra fee restaurants and the only one that was not subpar was the Crown Grille but it still was a much worse experience than other Crown Grilles on different princess ships. The staff was not rude but not pleasant either, we waited 45 minutes past our reservation to get seated and the food was no delivered correctly. The other restaurants are not worth a visit and no better than mediocre restaurants in a medium size city. I would avoid.
In fact I would avoid this ship all together. If it wasn't for it being a new ship and being clean I would have given it a terrible rating.
Avoid this ship. Read Less

Just returned from a Mediterranean Cruise on board the beautiful 'Majestic Princess'
She is stunning inside and impressively designed.
We did this cruise mainly to see the new ship as we had done the ports, and she is going ... Read More

Just returned from a Mediterranean Cruise on board the beautiful 'Majestic Princess'
She is stunning inside and impressively designed.
We did this cruise mainly to see the new ship as we had done the ports, and she is going to the Asian market.
The Balcony cabins are very similar to all other Princess ship in Size and design.
Majestic is a superb sea boat 'not a movement' despite the sea being choppy and not being able to get into Sicily.
The entertainment was not to the high standard of other Princess cruises I have been on and the activities put on for sea days were awful.
What adult wants to make paper planes and fly them through a hoop ! Really....!
The food in dining halls was beautifully presented and plenty of choice, we went to the Seafood and Steak restaurant which was exceptional.
Staff: 60% were friendly and helpful but unfortunately we had to complain about a member of staff who was rude in the dining room, never ever had to do this, I heard similar stories from other cruisers!
We didn't do any excursions with the ship as we were in all ports previously.
We had decided in Naples to go to 'Capri' as we had heard it was beautiful and also do the Cable cars, I did all the research and all seemed simple enough! Bought the ferry tickets at the harbour got the 9.30am Ferry which takes 60 minutes to cross to Capri, then
20 minutes after sailing we heard a passenger say we had broken down! we were bobbing up and down and going nowhere Read Less

Sailed recently between 7th and 14th May 2017 on the Majestic Princess. What an amazing, large beautiful ship and I can honestly say we had a wonderful time. Travelled with friends and the other couple who booked at the same time as us, ... Read More

Sailed recently between 7th and 14th May 2017 on the Majestic Princess. What an amazing, large beautiful ship and I can honestly say we had a wonderful time. Travelled with friends and the other couple who booked at the same time as us, but as the departure date approached they chose the option to upgrade their cabin via their travel agent. We didn’t and this is what happened.
We got given B210 on the port side which is on deck 11 and forward (blue carpet) and our friends got given the equivalent cabin, same deck on the starboard side (red carpet). They chose to upgrade and got moved down a deck to deck 10 and they looked out of their balcony directly down onto a lifeboat!
Not every cabin has the same view. B210 by the way was Fabulous with a very good clear unobstructed and totally private view from the balcony out to sea. 2 Lounge chairs and a small table on the balcony. Move a few metres towards Aft and you encounter lifeboats etc. There is also an amazing Sky Walk up on deck 16 which you can walk around a glass floor and it’s like walking out over the ocean but people can also look directly down into your cabin, you can see people lying on their beds. Cabins below mine had a larger balcony but I could look straight down into their balcony as they sat eating Breakfast. Be interesting if Princess Cruises read these reviews, they could maybe attach a 360degree camera view from each cabin onto their website, be interesting but each passenger would know exactly the view and balcony they are paying for.
Chose to have the all inclusive drinks package which I can honestly say was the best thing we did. It really took the pressure off buying any drinks especially travelling with another couple. It was 43$ per day but my gosh you certainly went over that amount easily and I am far from a big drinker. We started the day with a nice coffee down on deck 5 International Café (approx $3) then went to the gym followed by a freshly prepared Melon smoothie at Ocean Terrace juice bar on deck 7 (approx $3-$5). Breakfast in the Buffet then up on deck in the sunshine with virgin Strawberry Daiquiris etc all day, bottles of water we took back to the room, then down for pre dinner cocktails (approx $6-$10) then into the restaurants.
Sometimes we had several glasses of wine and mini single glass bottles of champagne with dinner ($6-$9) then retired to a lounge to listen to music with another couple of cocktails ($6-$10). Tried nearly all the drinks on the menu over the week especially in the Wake View Bar at the back of the ship as we sailed away from ports. You can have anything under $10 in the package which honestly covers about 98% of the drinks menu, just expensive Remy XO style Cognacs that are not included.
It’s a little different than in my day however. I was a Princess Cruises Bartender for over 8 years working on the Sun, Sea, Island and Regal Princess ships. Back then the more drinks you sold the more Tips you got. Not sure this is the case and I am undecided whether prepaid gratuity system is the way forward. I could be convinced otherwise but the Jury is still out. We paid our prepaid gratuity before boarding and I asked several people onboard how exactly this pre paid gratuity system works and I was given conflicting answers.
What I mean is several and I don’t mean all by any means but several of the bar stewards
seemed to walk around like Zombies for want of a better word and trying not to be rude or
derogatory in any way. For example I sat down on deck 5 in the amazing Foyer area and a Bar steward walked past me 12 times looking very smart in his purple waist coat carrying his tray like a Frisbee. Never spoke to me, never asked if I wanted a drink at all in fact I never saw him speak to anybody. I placed my Blue cruise card on the table and he came over on his next pass. Kept it business like, asked me what drink I wanted, took my card, returned with said drink and placed my card on the table and left, not much conversation took place.
The Bar Manager position seems to have gone but I recall my old bar managers Hiscox and Chaffey would have gone crazy at you for Frisbee carrying your tray.
Looking around not many people seemed to have a drink in front of them and often throughout the cruise people would approach me and our friends and talk to us about the fancy colourer cocktails we had in front of us. Some of the drinks seemed stronger than others, so possibly a little short measuring going on or is that the old bartender in me coming out. For example I tried one cocktail one night that had 3 different spirits in it but it was like a fruit punch, I think I would have been flat on my back if this cocktail had in it what the menu said it had in it Lol.
You don’t get any record of what drinks you have, your cruise card disappears when you order and then gets returned, anything could be added or any amount of drinks could be added to your account but you never get to see what drinks you have had or this itemised break down is not included in your Cruise card breakdown which you can check on line at any time.
Each bar has its own style, drinks menu and theme which is a fabulous Idea. For example you can get Newcastle Brown Ale on draught in the Fountain Pool bar on Deck 16 but no place else. Each bar has different style quality menus; some leather menus some wood offering different drinks and wines. This does move you around the ship and I liked this whole different bars offering different choices theme.
When you order a drink and your cruise card is returned it is sometimes just placed on the table without any words being said, the more experienced waiters talk to you and read out first names and hand the individual person their respective cards back which I think is a very good idea and should be Princess policy in my opinion. For example in one bar a chap took away our 4 cards and then brought the drinks over, ten minutes later the cards appeared back and got placed on the table. It was a few minutes later before these were picked up and one of the cards belonged to a complete stranger! The waiter just immediately dropped into denial and shoulder shrugging and it wasn’t him !! Before an experienced waiter overheard and immediately sorted the situation and calmly stated they would go down to reception immediately and sort it out. They disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a correct new card.
The ship is designed for the Asian market and I am sure Princess has spent some considerable time on this and I am sure they have got it right. BUT. For example there is no Night Club. They have stuck a DJ in The fountain pool bar on deck 16 at night but it’s not a night club, it’s like an after thought, went once didn’t ever go back. They have an
amazing Foyer area on deck 5 which has a stage with music and dancing but you get a
handful of couples on the dance floor and it’s FULL, that’s it. Lots of people sat around watching and I thought yes they want to dance like me and my wife but there was no room what so ever.
Bellinis bar on deck 6 was our favourite bar, the only daft thing was it closed at 11pm with music in full swing, every seat and every bat stool taken as was every night but they closed which was a shame. We would stay in the bar as did everybody whilst the bar was wiped down and lights turned off as the band still played on. The other bar downstairs is still open.
There is another small band/singer in The Crown grill bar near a (pay Extra) Grill restaurant but it felt to me again an after thought. The band squash in and its like a few tables have been moved and maybe 4/5 couples could possibly dance on carpet. There is a marble circle nearby as if that should have been the dance floor, not sure really. No place else on this massive ship that you could have a dance with your wife ?? I was very surprised at this but again it’s designed for a different market. You would often see people just dancing in corridors and by the lifts.
There is a beautiful Games lounge with purpose built card type tables and lovely chairs with a stage. They do the bingo in this room (Bingo was great and well worth it, very professional and funny compared with Bingo in my day) and shows but one night there was a Hypnotised show on stage at 9pm and at 10 minutes to 9 I saw numerous couples lift the lid on a monopoly board games etc. The lights went down at 9! Which is fab don’t get me wrong, everybody is different and if people want to play board games great but just shows the difference cultures wants and enjoyments people have whilst cruising.
The food was outstanding throughout the ship and there is not much to say on this subject, I can’t image anybody could ever complain and the chefs need a pay rise. It was strange for me coming from an old school Princess back ground as not all the restaurants were included in your sailing package. Several restaurants you had to pay extra for.
We ate `Anytime` dining and turned up at Symphony and Concerto restaurants and only had to wait a few minutes before being shown to a table. We paid extra for the Crown Grill restaurant and wish I hadn’t paid the bill but I will cover this later, However the Grill restaurant was fabulous food and service and tipped our Mexican waiter, lovely knowledgeable chap extra.
We paid extra for the Chinese food Harmony restaurant which again was outstanding with very traditional Asian food, this wasn’t to the liking of the couple we travelled with but it was a surprise the restaurant was almost empty all night and most nights when we walked past.
The Buffet however was always full and I mean full, I’m sure some times are busier than others but I never seemed to ever go when it wasn’t busy. We often spent time wandering around with a plate of hot food trying to find a table. Its sort of 2 buffets in one really. Princess have tried to separate them with different furniture but they are directly next door to each other with similar food but one does have an amazing walk through bakery with cakes to die for. The food as I said is wonderful and the choice is out of this world, anything you can image is in the buffet apart from drinks.
I am not sure Princess have got the drinks service right in the buffet. Its find a seat with your food and someone comes over and serves you coffee and Orange juice. Sounds great in principal but it’s a Buffett at the end of the day and as it’s very very busy mostly
the shameless got their coffee and juice first, those who were prepared to shout for the waiter. We always got coffee and juice but more often than not when you had finished your breakfast.
You get a bright Blue coloured plastic credit card style cruise card as a first time cruiser
and you use this for everything which is very clever. If you come again for a second
cruise this changes to a Gold colour and so on, the more you cruise the more your card colour changes, very good idea and I am sure keeps you coming back to Princess cruise. A lot of people carry their card around their necks on a clear lanyard holder to show off the colour of their cruise card, which is sweet.
The onboard Casino, I was surprised at being totally honest. It was on my to do list as I was prepared for it to be out of this world I thought as the ship is designed for the Asian market and they like a casino I thought it was going to be out of this world with water jets, lights and things moving, something on pare with Las Vegas. It was Ok, very practical and square shaped, not very big but practical and a bit boring being honest with little atmosphere.
Asian market type slots around the outside with tables in the middle, all in American dollars as is everything onboard. You can get cash added to your cruise card to then use on the slots and electronic Roulette games but if you win, the money stays on your cruise card until you cash out in the casino. You then get given CASH only in the casino!! You can’t have any winnings credited to your cruise card account. You are handed physical American Dollars, but no where else onboard takes cash only the casino.
You would then have to physically take the cash down to deck 5 reception desk, queue and have this money put against your onboard cruise card account. Bit naughty really I thought and I was surprised at Princess Cruises, yes other cruise companies would deploy this tactic to keep you spending your cash in the casino but not Princess. I took home some American dollars as I had paid my bill already.
Some of the croupiers were brand new and certainly hadn’t come from a Lake Tahoe or Vegas background and but were very nice people but several didn’t have any casino experience at all.
Photographers are around as in any place you visit and take some great pictures of you all week. Its very clever facial recognition system they deploy and you enter your cabin number into one of the many monitors and it recognises your face and up pop your pictures. $249 for your pictures I thought was a bit steep or am I being a skin flint? We bought a couple of photographs that’s all at $25 each and they appeared on our cabin door slot overnight, not the best quality prints I have seen being honest, for example if I bought this prints back home in one of the many print your own style units you see in supermarkets etc after putting in your memory stick I would have asked for a refund, I thought they were a little pixalated and not in any cardboard frame etc just loose.
You get a cruise ship shape memory stick which is Fab on a plain lanyard also with your pictures, it was a shame the lanyard strap didn’t have princess cruise printed on it. The poor quality of the print would probably prevent me from ever buying physical photographs onboard in the future but would just buy them electronically on a stick to print myself at home but some great pictures taken, not sure about the red Lobster when going ashore, is that the best thing they could think of or did I miss the meaning.
Show Lounge was very large, not grand but big and practical with lots chairs in it and we enjoyed a great light show. Its like a cinema style seating so everybody had to stand up to let you past if you wanted to get to some seats and it was a tad of a squeeze to get past, you cant cross your legs whilst seated. I saw a couple of drinks waiters walking around before curtains up and I wanted to order a drink but with half a dozen people either side of me how was this waitress going to get this drink to me and with no place apart from the floor to put the drink as there are no tables I didn’t order anything, would have been nice to have sipped on a cocktail during the show, something I remember from years ago passengers doing and me thinking yes I will do that when I cruise as a passenger one day.
There was when the curtain went up lots of people walking around in the dark trying to find seats. I didn’t see anybody helping here but there was lots of single seats all around me as people had left a single seat between them and the next person, it would have been easy for staff to politely ask people to nudge up a chair and get more people seated,
seat staff finders needed.
Noodle bar on deck 16 was very tasty, they give you a beeper and it lights up you’re your food has been prepared to go back and collect. On the other side of the deck is a pay extra Lobster bar but this also serves Burgers and chips which are not any extra, I didn’t get that.
Watched Movie under the stars at night. They put a very soft red lounge chair cover on deck loungers which is ok to lie down on in your clothes and they have red blankets to put over your knees and bags of popcorn, it was fantastic. Watched Star Wars fabulous.
Only saw the captain once from a distance during the week but the Captain of this ship certainly gave you confidence with his regular detailed announcements and updates. He tried to get into one port several times but it was blowing a gale (nothing to do with Princess) so the captain aborted the port and moved on. I don’t think nobody could have complained the way the captain updated people and reassured people he had everyone safety at heart. Massive decision not to go into a port but I never heard anybody mention it around the ship or anybody moaning whatsoever and that was due entirely too how the captain handled this situation. Top man.
The security onboard was Ok but that’s as far as I would go, I was a little surprised in this
day and age. You arrive they take a picture of you on an Ipad style handheld device and when ever you disembark or return on board they scan you cruise card and up pops your picture, they know who is ashore and who is onboard, very good system.
It is when they get busy the security cracks appear. When you embark you get your cruise card scanned then move onto the scanners, you place your bags and belts etc into a tray just like at the airport and it goes through the scanner and you step through the metal detector, all very good and reassuring. However one port we came back from via tender, people were queuing from the tender with one guy with one foot on the tender and one foot on the ship as he couldn’t go forward because of the long queue ahead, it was hot and people were getting frustrated The metal detector buzzer was going off but people were being usured through and not invited to go back through the metal detector after producing a coin or similar from their pocket !!
I saw that at least twice and I even saw one elderly Asian man walk around the metal detector as he was frustrated at the queue and he was not challenged! The chap watching the security bag scanner, some one was chatting to him constantly and he didn’t have his full attention on the monitor. Maybe chairs or more scanners are required for the infirm. I would have queued for ages if I was assured that everybody was 100% checked, I think everybody onboard is of the same mindset, get more gangways if the numbers are too many to cope with on tender days but 100% check everybody every time. If some lunatic is going to do anything they are going to test the security at peak times as in any place around the world. This security area needed more officer supervision I thought at this vulnerable time. I am sure officers were walking around the ship but I didn’t see any but it is a very big ship.
As an ex princess cruises bartender I wanted to do the engine room and bridge tour, at $150 per person !! I couldn’t afford that, but that would have brought back some memories and I would have loved that.
They had an Art gallery to wonder around and look at, some fabulous paintings, I was surprised at how some of the artwork resembled an artist called `Stanley King` for example the Red Hearts and American flag in POP art style but that could have just been my imagination, be interesting if Mr King has any opinion on this.
And finally we booked a table for four at the pay extra Crown Grill restaurant. Got a lovely table and we all ordered a lovely steak. It was going great until two passengers, a couple of tables down from us stood up and started arguing at the top of their voices and nearly punched each other. They were shouting and screaming at each other but what was a surprise was no body did anything !! the white coated head waiter just disappeared and nobody did anything. A young Asian couple left their meal and walked out, I stood up to go over but my wife went ballistic at me and said I wasn’t a Princess Employee anymore so I sat down.
They eventually stopped arguing but they should have been approached and they should have been offered to move tables or something, Princess got that wrong. Is that lack of experience or a situation that doesn’t happen very often I don’t know but it certainly ruined
the atmosphere for everyone in the whole restaurant and I cant imagine other passengers have not fed this back. If a waiter had sorted it then everyone could have relaxed but it was like it wasn’t over between these two guys, the constant jibs and loud remarks for the remainder of the meal certainly ruined the experience of paying extra for this meal.
If you had been in another restaurant you would have walked your wife away but it was because you had paid extra but then I thought afterwards no don’t pay the extra, complain and book for another night that would hopefully not get ruined, but being British you just tend to get on with it. Food great and well worth the extra but a ruined experience.
All in all I loved sailing as a passenger on Princess and it brought back loads of fond memories. I will certainly sail again with Princess Cruises and I am looking forward to getting my Gold cruise card oooh. Would I sail again on Majestic, probably not being honest. Lovely ship but on my next cruise I want to go to a ball room class and learn to dance, I want to find a lovely cocktail bar and dance in my tuxedo with my wife to the odd song. I want to chat to the drinks waiters and bartenders without a language barrier. It doesn’t lend itself for you to do any of this on Majestic. Read Less

I have sailed many many times on Princess and would recommend them HIGHLY ...until now! WOW! I will say, the ship is brand new, in great shape and my bed was upgraded from the usual hard mattress-- but that is where the nice comments end. ... Read More

I have sailed many many times on Princess and would recommend them HIGHLY ...until now! WOW! I will say, the ship is brand new, in great shape and my bed was upgraded from the usual hard mattress-- but that is where the nice comments end. The ship layout, staff and attitude is catering ONLY to an Asian guest-- and I am not even sure they were thrilled. Good for you if you are Asian and choose this ship, but if not, prepare to be underwhelmed if you loved Princess cruising. You would think that with a new ship they would have their A team as the staff -- um, NO...everyone from the Cruise staff to the room stewards were less than enthusiastic and made no effort to make you feel like a welcomed guest. The bars and restaurants all close early and the usually wonderful bar staff is no where to be found in common areas. My love of that staff ( and the tips to prove it) are usually a HUGE part of my bill, NOT the case this time. If you could find someone, again, there was little interest in service. If you like the cheesy, but fun Skywalkers lounge -- well, you will instead be treated to a DJ under lots of light in the VERY chlorinated smelly indoor pool area - such a lousy replacement. There is lots of space used for private Kareoke rooms, that cost $12 extra per hour /per person and were not used at all on this cruise. They do offer you one free drink, which is nice a useless if you have the drink package. It also had no staff around ( because of the lack of guests I am sure) so it was hard to even find out those details. The food was another MAJOR let down on this trip. We host dinners in the Crown Grill and it was horrible. Normally the steaks, presentation and service are beyond worth the extra money - um, NOT THIS TIME. It was laughable how bad it all was and so embarrassing for those of us who raved about it to first time cruisers. again -- I used to love this and now, just still so frustrated by the lack of effort by anyone on this ship. I also had a dinner at the new Harmony / Cantonese restaurant and that couldn't have been more bland and again -- so not worth the extra money. the food at the cafes were okay, but took a lot longer than usual and again -- the staff just seemed ho hum. The meals in the dining rooms were also -just okay, not really worth getting dressed for if you were expecting nice people or service. If you like to exercise, the gym is nice, but if you want to walk, good luck, there is not a level where you can walk around the ship. it is all reconfigured and the "walking path" is about 25 feet long....so you can get lots of laps in if you are super lazy.
We had several first time cruisers with us and it just wasn't a great experience. As I said before, I always looked forward to my Princess Cruises, but I will be looking at other lines. Which is sad. Read Less